The present invention relates to a proximity detonator for flying objects, particularly missiles, for combating flying targets with the use of information regarding the speed between detonator and flying target.
It is known that detonators in flying bodies used to combat flying targets generally employ two sensors, a contact switch which is to respond if a direct hit has been made, and a proximity detonator which is to initiate the self-destruct mechanism of the charge if no direct hit is possible. In other words, such proximity detonator must be designed so that it will not self-destruct if a direct hit is possible and that in the other case it determines the moment of self-destruction so that as many fragments as possible will hit the target.
In a known proximity detonator, self-destruction is initiated in dependence on an angular measurement, as soon as the angle between the line of sight between detonator and target and the longitudinal axis of the flying body carrying the charge and the detonator has reached or exceeded a certain value. In order to prevent self-destruction if a direct hit should be possible later, the proximity measuring portion of this known proximity detonator must be nonsensitive in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the flying body. This can be accomplished in principle with the use of a radar process by providing a zero position in the antenna diagram of the proximity measuring portion of the detonator. The drawback of this is that, particularly when this known detonator is intended for small flying bodies, e.g. for missiles, there is no known way of taking such angle measurement with sufficient accuracy. In the likewise known use of the radar process the zero position in the antenna diagram can also be realized only incompletely so that it may happen that the missile self-destructs in spite of a later possible direct hit.
A further known proximity detonator utilizes a distance measurement with the aid of very short radar pulses. The drawback of this is that there is no known possibility of making the moment of self-destruction dependent, in the desired manner, on the speed relationships between the detonator and the target. Here, too, a zero position must be given in the antenna diagram which again can be realized only incompletely, particularly with small flying bodies such as missiles so that self-destruction before a later direct hit is not impossible.
A process is finally known, particularly for radar detonators for missiles, which operates with the use of information regarding the relative speed between the detonator and the target and can get along without a zero position in the antenna diagram. It is also known that in the radar art a frequency shift occurs as a result of the Doppler effect, when one or two objects move, corresponding to the speed of the objects with respect to one another, which Doppler effect can be utilized to obtain the above-mentioned information. At the moment at which the detonator and the target have reached a minimum distance in this case, this frequency shift becomes zero. Precisely this criterion is utilized in the known process to actuate self-destruction of the combat charge. The drawback of this process is that the detonation occurs too late, due to the travel time required, for fragments of the missile to reach the target, particularly if the speed between the detonator and the target approaches the order of magnitude of the speed of the fragments.
Regarding the above-mentioned state of the art, reference is made to "Impulsfreie elektrische Ruckstrahlverfahren" (Pulse-free electrical reflected beam processes) by F. v. Rautenfeld, 1957, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, published by Deutsche Radar-Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., particularly pages 92, 142, 148 and 156.